Uses of Hydrogen

Uses of Hydrogen 

Some see hydrogen gas as the clean fuel of the future – generated from water and returning to water when it is oxidised. 

Hydrogen is considered an alternative vehicle fuel under the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The interest in hydrogen as an alternative transportation fuel stems from its ability to power fuel cells in zero-emission vehicles (vehicles with no emissions of air pollutants), its potential for domestic production, and the fuel cell's potential for high efficiency. A fuel cell may be two to three times more efficient than an internal combustion engine running on gasoline. Hydrogen can also fuel internal combustion engines, but burning hydrogen results in nitrogen oxides emissions and is less efficient than use in fuel cells. Several vehicle manufacturers have light-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicles available for lease or sale in California where there are public hydrogen fueling stations. Test vehicles are also available in limited numbers to organizations with access to hydrogen fueling stations.

• Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are increasingly being seen as ‘pollution-free’ sources of energy and are now being used in some buses and cars.
• Hydrogen also has many other uses. In the chemical industry it is used to make ammonia for agricultural fertiliser (the Haber process) and cyclohexane and methanol, which are intermediates in the production of plastics and pharmaceuticals. 
• It is also used to remove sulfur from fuels during the oil-refining process.
•  Large quantities of hydrogen are used to hydrogenate oils to form fats, for example to make margarine.
• In the glass industry hydrogen is used as a protective atmosphere for making flat glass sheets. In the electronics industry it is used as a flushing gas during the manufacture of silicon chips.
• The low density of hydrogen made it a natural choice for one of its first practical uses – filling balloons and airships. However, it reacts vigorously with oxygen (to form water) and its future in filling airships ended when the Hindenburg airship caught fire.
• It is also used as fuel for rocket launchers.

For many years, hydrogen has had multiple applications,                   both in industry and in environmental preservation.

Hydrogen, combined with a fuel cell, is also a great vector of clean energy, since it makes it possible to produce electricity directly onboard electric vehicles or in remote areas that are cut off from the power grid.

In the space industry:-

From the beginning of the space industry, hydrogen has played an important role as a rocket fuel. This is because it is the fuel that concentrates the most energy: 1 kg of hydrogen contains 3 times more energy than 1 kg of gasoline. This is a critical criterion considering that a launcher must be as light as possible.

Currently, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are still combined and used to launch the European rocket Ariane 5. In the main cryo-technical stage of Ariane 5, the combustion of hydrogen produces an enormous quantity of steam, which is blown down at very high speed through the tail pipe of the Vulcain engine. It is the ejection of gas at high speed that propels the rocket, in accordance with the action-reaction principal.

Hydrogen burns upon contact with oxygen, but the latter is not present in space. It is for this reason that Ariane 5 carries an enormous central tank containing 162 tons of liquid oxygen at a temperature of -183°C and 28 tons of liquid hydrogen at -252,87°C.

For energy:-

Hydrogen is used to produce clean and silent energy for a variety of applications where doing so meets an immediate need and also offers a genuine benefit. This is the case for power supply to isolated regions that are not connected to the power grid, sensitive sites that require reliable back-up energy systems, captive fleets (forklift trucks and buses), and portable power generators used for outdoor events.

For clean transportation:-

Hydrogen used in a fuel cell allows us to produce electricity directly onboard a vehicle with an electric engine. These "zero-emission" vehicles release only water.

Producing hydrogen requires energy. For this reason, hydrogen is referred to as a vector of energy, such as electricity and not as primary energy. Examples of primary energy include oil, carbon or coal, natural gas and some renewable energy sources.